How is the experience participating at Y Combinator accelerator?

Description

Chris Nguyen, CEO, and Co-Founder of LogDNA moved from Canada to Silicon Valley in 2015 as they got accepted to the accelerator Y Combinator after applying three times.

Video Transcript:

How is the experience participating at Y Combinator accelerator?

I strongly recommend any startup who is thinking about accelerators to give it a shot. So we’ve been fortunate where we have been in a program called Y Combinator. It’s an accelerator with two cohorts a year. They bring together over 100 companies per cohort. The cool part is that having done companies before I learnt, even more, going through YC.

The best part about was that anyone can apply. If you have an idea and you have traction then you can apply to their winter program and their summer program and give it a shot. It took us three trials to get into YC so we are pretty resilient. Never stop in your first no. I think every founder knows this. You wouldn’t be where you are today if you stopped at your first no.

I’m glad we went through the program I think what I’ve learned the most was just executing and focus. You’re accountable to your numbers, what are you trying to hit on a week to week basis. But also growth. Growth is really important across the board, so understanding product-market fit, understanding building something that a company actually wants.

Funny enough our company today was a pivot from the original idea from y combinator. I think that through the lens of y combinator we got to see that this was not the right product we were working on. Let shifts gear a little bit and let’s find the right product to really grow and expand, and we ended up pivoting. Post YC, YC really helped us along the way with that process.

In addition to acceleration, they help you with fundraising. At the end of the day, there is a saying ‘you can bring a horse to the water but you cannot get them to drink.’ A lot of doors open but it comes down to do you have the right product that investors believe in and want to invest in to. It’s not a magical ticket to raise money but it helps out if you’re in a foreign area like Silicon Valley.

Coming from Canada it just opened a lot of doors. When we first moved here we didn’t know many founders, many startups, and many people. You start growing your family as you grow with being in the bay.